So I happen to feel quite strongly about the below topic but I know full well that some people may disagree with my personal opinion. In fact there may be people in my office who I’m picking a fight with by writing this! I will leave you to offer your own opinions…
The article offers some practical tips to ensure you are not “over baking the cookie, burning the candle at both ends or pulling your weight and everyone else’s!”
I would imagine most offices have a good cross section of the 'over working' and 'under working' with regard to the working day. I wouldn’t necessarily put myself into either category but I do know my own limits.
Let me elaborate. I may on occasion be one of the people feeling like a let down - purely because I am leaving the office when I am 'supposed' to. You tend to quickly wander out past the person you know will still be sat there an hour on from you.
But who is the best / hardest worker? Again I will leave you to decide...
I have always been a strong believer that each person has a limit to how many hours they can be productive within a day. Although I have been known to work late or pick up the phone at weekends if needed, it’s not something I would plan to make a habit of. I know my body and I also know what progress I make in any given day. It’s a fact that if I have been on the go since the early hours, that by 6 p.m. my eyes resemble little piddle holes in the snow!
The point is, I get my work done so what's the need to hang back in the office?
Overwhelming evidence suggests that regular work weeks of more than 40 hours are harmful not only to employees, but also to the company as a whole. I believe that by following a few simple steps you can ensure a successful and productive day, all within 8 hours...or so!
- Fail to prepare, prepare to fail! Get organised - most people use multiple tools to manage an ever building list of jobs, such as Outlook reminders, emails, calendars etc.. Don’t! It’s quite simple, if you compile one list, it easily enables you to sort these chores into order of priority. Try creating something simple like this –
Must Do - Should Do - Could Do - Delegate
Think about the impact of each job, i.e. something on your ‘could do list’ can wait.
- Prepare your day before opening your emails, that way you are clear on your priorities for the day. As soon as you open your emails you will be sucked into everyone else priorities.
- Get yourself a bullet journal aka ‘Bujo’, if you would like to know more follow the link http://whatwethink.pie-recruitment.com/post/102dwvu/the-bujo
- Grow a backbone! As the attached article says, often people will be bulked down with work load without even testing the water with their boss, I think it’s easy to presume the expectations but we all know presumptions get us nowhere!
“Maximize efficiency and productivity at work by limiting yourself to reasonable hours”.
So many people say, ‘I have to do this,’ but they might just be putting those expectations on themselves," says Maura Thomas, productivity expert, author, and founder of RegainYourTime.com. Many people make assumptions about what their boss wants without ever testing the waters to find out if it’s true.
Read the original article here